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Foreign-trained lawyers in Louisiana

Louisiana is the only U.S. state whose private law follows the civil-law tradition, of French and Spanish origin: the closest to the training of a Latin American lawyer. For a lawyer trained in another country it has a single route, the bar exam, and it is shorter than in other states: instead of a full LL.M., an equivalency determination of your legal education and 14 credits at an ABA-accredited law school. We did not find a Foreign Legal Consultant route in Louisiana, and its in-house counsel license, its pro hac vice and its temporary practice are only for lawyers licensed in the United States.

The five routes in Louisiana

For a lawyer admitted only in another country. Each route has its own section below, with the official rule. What each one is

Admission without exam from another state
No
Last reviewed
October 28, 2026

The Louisiana route

The path a lawyer trained in another country takes to a Louisiana license.

  1. Complete 14 credits at an ABA-accredited law school

    In subjects from a list in the rule: among others, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, evidence, professional responsibility and four in Louisiana law (civil procedure, family law, obligations and successions). No more than 4 credits per subject count, and up to 6 by distance learning. You need them to apply for the equivalency determination. Advantage: it is much less than the 24-credit LL.M. other states require, such as New York.

  2. Apply for the equivalency determination

    Through the Committee on Bar Admissions portal, with the US$300 fee. The Committee decides whether your legal education is equivalent to that of an ABA-accredited law school, with a panel of professors from Louisiana's law schools. The deadline is August 1 for the February exam and December 1 for the July exam, in both cases of the year before the exam. Watch out: until there is a decision, you cannot start your bar exam application.

  3. Apply for the exam

    To the same Committee, with the US$975 fee. You also request NCBE's character report from NCBE: without proof of that request, your application does not count as complete or filed on time. The deadline is November 1 for the February exam and February 1 for the July exam; after that there is a late deadline, with an US$850 late fee.

  4. Take the exam

    Part I, Louisiana's own: nine subjects over three days, mostly essays. Five are in Louisiana civil law and count double, and you pass with 650 out of 900. Part II is the MPRE, the professional responsibility exam, with a score of 80 or higher.

  5. Get your license

    Once you meet every requirement, you take the oath in person before a justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, its clerk or a deputy clerk. The bar, the Louisiana State Bar Association, is mandatory for practicing.

Before you start, know where it leads: with a foreign degree, the Louisiana license does not open most other states to you without an exam. We explain it at the end, under "After Louisiana."

For more than a decade, Louisiana was the state for whose bar exam NAFA prepared its members, and NAFA advocated for them before the staff of the bar association and Louisiana's judges.

Foreign Legal Consultant

We did not find a Foreign Legal Consultant route in force in Louisiana. The Supreme Court's admission rules (Rule XVII) do not include one, and Louisiana does not appear in NCBE's table of Foreign Legal Consultants licensed from 2021 to 2025. There was a rule for licensing consultants in foreign law, which the ABA still cited in 2020, but it is no longer in the bar association's articles of incorporation as revised on July 28, 2026.

The bar exam

Rule XVII of the Louisiana Supreme Court (Section 6) allows someone who studied law outside the United States to take the exam if the Committee on Bar Admissions determines that their legal education is equivalent to that of an ABA-accredited law school, and if they completed 14 credits at one of them. Proving it is up to you. An LL.M. on its own is not enough: you need the equivalency determination.

Requirements for a foreign degree

  • The equivalency determination: proof that your legal education is equivalent to that of an ABA-accredited law school. The ABA's accreditation standards are relevant to the decision.
  • 14 semester credits at an ABA-accredited U.S. law school, in subjects from this list: constitutional law; contracts; criminal law; criminal procedure; corporations or business organizations; evidence; federal jurisdiction; federal civil procedure; intellectual property; legal research and writing; Louisiana civil procedure; Louisiana family law; Louisiana obligations law; Louisiana successions, donations and trusts; professional responsibility; property; sale and lease; security rights; taxation; and torts. No more than 4 credits per subject count, and up to 6 by distance learning.
  • Your documents for the equivalency determination: proof of your citizenship or immigration status; certified transcripts of your legal studies in your country and in the United States; certified copies of your diplomas; descriptions of the courses and requirements of your programs; proof of your admission or good standing with every bar or professional authority; your résumé; and two original letters of recommendation from people licensed in a jurisdiction where you are licensed, addressed and mailed directly to the Committee. Every document in another language must be translated into English by a certified translator.
  • For the license, Section 3 requires being a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident or a noncitizen otherwise authorized to work lawfully in the country.
  • The exam: Part I, with nine subjects, and the MPRE with 80 or higher.

Good to know

  • Equivalency deadlines: August 1 for the February exam and December 1 for the July exam, of the year before. The panel reviews your application and makes its recommendation by October 15 (February exam) or January 15 (July exam); the Committee decides and notifies you in writing. The panel may ask you for more information or to appear in person, although it is not required to interview you.
  • Advantage: five of the nine exam subjects are in Louisiana civil law (Civil Code I, II and III, the Code of Civil Procedure and torts) and count double. The others are business entities and negotiable instruments, constitutional law, criminal law with its procedure and evidence, and federal jurisdiction and procedure.
  • Watch out: you must take every subject and make a good-faith effort on each one, or you are disqualified. You pass with a total of 650 out of 900.
  • The exam is Louisiana's own, not the UBE: you cannot bring a score from another state, and Louisiana does not accept MBE scores. According to NCBE, it has not adopted the NextGen exam.
  • Prepare well: in 2025, of the 5 people educated outside the United States who took the exam in Louisiana, 2 passed, according to NCBE. Watch out: you may take it up to five times; after five unsuccessful attempts, the rule does not allow you to reapply (Rule XVII, Section 8).
  • A passing MPRE score is valid for five years from the date you took it.

Read the official rule

With NAFA: we guide you through every step of the route, starting with the equivalency determination, and our courses prepare you in U.S. law and legal English. They do not replace the 14 credits, which only count at an ABA-accredited law school.

Admission without exam for lawyers from other states

This is the route for a lawyer already licensed in another U.S. state (admission on motion). A license from another country or a Foreign Legal Consultant certification does not count.

Louisiana has no admission on motion: its Rule XVII (Section 11) says that no one is admitted solely because they are admitted in another state, or because that state would admit a Louisiana lawyer. A lawyer from another state, however many years they have practiced, must take the Louisiana exam.

Good to know

  • There is no shorter exam for lawyers either, and Louisiana does not accept MBE scores from other states, according to NCBE.

See the official source

How it works in the rest of the country

In-house counsel

Rule XVII (Section 14) gives a limited license to a lawyer who works in Louisiana only for a company, its affiliates or an association, but only if the lawyer is admitted and authorized to practice in another U.S. state or territory. A license from another country is not enough. If you are later licensed in another state, this is what it requires:

Requirements

  • Work in Louisiana only as a lawyer for a corporation, its subsidiaries or affiliates, an association or another business whose activity is not providing legal services.
  • Apply to the Committee on Bar Admissions, with the US$975 fee, an affidavit from your employer, NCBE's character report and a criminal background check with fingerprints.
  • The license is valid for four years and is renewed for equal periods; the renewal application is due at least 90 days before it expires.

What in-house counsel cannot do

  • Practicing for anyone other than the employer named in your affidavit.
  • Appearing in court: that requires pro hac vice admission.

Read the official rule · How it works in other states

Appearing in a single case (pro hac vice)

Rule XVII (Section 13) allows only a lawyer admitted to a U.S. District Court or to the highest court of a U.S. state, territory or possession, or of the District of Columbia, to act in a specific case before a Louisiana court. A license from another country is not enough.

Requirements

  • With a U.S. license, one of three situations: you practice only for your employer and its affiliates; you neither live in Louisiana nor work regularly from an office there; or you live in Louisiana, practice from offices in other states and in Louisiana only temporarily.
  • Act together with a Louisiana lawyer and first file an application with the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, with a non-refundable US$450 fee. Its Disciplinary Counsel issues a letter of approval or disapproval, which the local lawyer attaches to the motion to the court. The court may deny admission if you appear so often that you already practice regularly in Louisiana.

Read the official rule

Temporary practice, without a state license

Handling a matter in the state on a temporary basis, without a license or registration there, as some rules allow a lawyer from another country to do: usually matters tied to the law of their own country or to international law.

Louisiana's Rule of Professional Conduct 5.5 allows temporary practice, and work for an employer, only for a lawyer admitted in another U.S. state (paragraphs (c) and (d)). It has no rule for a lawyer admitted only in another country, as other states do.

Read the official rule

Other routes

  • Notary public: it is not a law license, but in Louisiana a notary does more than certify signatures. A notary may, for example, receive wills, pass marriage contracts and conveyances, and make inventories and partitions, and the acts a notary executes under the Civil Code are authentic acts (R.S. 35:2). Among other requirements, it calls for living in Louisiana, as a citizen or noncitizen; being 18 or older; reading, writing and speaking English; a high school diploma or equivalent; no felony conviction without a pardon; and passing the Secretary of State's written exam, which a lawyer admitted in Louisiana does not need (R.S. 35:191).

After Louisiana

What the Louisiana license opens, or does not, in other states if your degree is from another country.

  • Watch out: admission on motion will rarely help you. More than 30 jurisdictions require a degree from an ABA-approved law school for it, according to NCBE, and a foreign degree with 14 credits or with an LL.M. is not one.
  • Your score does not travel: the Louisiana exam is not the UBE, so in another state you generally take its full exam.
  • Texas admits on motion with 5 of the last 7 years of practice and does not require a degree from an ABA law school, but your education must meet its Rule 13: with a civil-law degree, that also means a 24-credit LL.M. that meets its criteria.
  • Florida: with the Louisiana license and an LL.M. that meets its Board of Bar Examiners' criteria, two years of practice let you take the Florida exam (Rule 4-13.4); without that LL.M., five. Florida has no admission on motion.
  • California: if you are already admitted in your country, you do not need the Louisiana license to take its exam. But with four years of active Louisiana license you can take a shorter one, the Attorneys' Examination: only the written part, in one day.
  • With a Louisiana license, as with that of any state, you can represent clients before federal immigration agencies and courts throughout the country.

Good to know

In Louisiana, the Supreme Court sets the admission rules, Rule XVII, and admits lawyers. The Committee on Bar Admissions, 19 lawyers admitted for at least five years whom the Court appoints on the bar association's recommendation, decides the equivalency determination, receives your application with NCBE's character report and gives the exam. The Louisiana State Bar Association is mandatory for practicing. The Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board reviews pro hac vice applications, which the court grants.

For the equivalency determination, the Court appoints a panel with one professor from each ABA-accredited Louisiana law school, and the Committee adds one of its members, who chairs it and votes only to break a tie. The panel recommends; the Committee decides.

Watch out: if your authorization to work in the United States is for less than five years, every year, by July 1, you will have to prove to the bar association that it is still valid. If you do not, the bar association notifies you and you have 60 days; after that, the Court may certify you as ineligible to practice until you comply, with a US$100 reinstatement fee (Rule XVII, Section 16).

General information, not legal advice. Rules change: always check the official source before you make a decision. Last reviewed: October 28, 2026.

Sources

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